Triple screen vs Virtual reality- which is faster? 

Your cockpit setup is so well made that there's no difference compared to virtual reality

Started on screens. Then used my Quest 2. It was so much better than screens I got the Quest 3. VR is just a Massive game changer. And so was the Quest 3. I just can’t go back to a screen. Totally lose the sense of forgetting you are not really driving, which I get in VR. VR is more stressful, feels more real, sense of speed is so much better. I wouldn’t care if it made me slower (it doesn’t), the experience is just far superior.

Great comparison video! I hope you do more content in VR as I truly believe it’s the future of SIM RACING!!! Awesome channel btw!!

So 38 year Sim engineer again. Your motion response looks great in the video. I can tell you continue to test and I suspect you are more often reducing the response. I say this because the first thing I noticed was the reduction of movement on downshifts. Upshifts maybe too…? Your videos are truly appreciated by me and I’m sure many others. So glad you keep finding the time to entertain us….!

This comparison was incredibly insightful. Both the triple screen setup and the VR setup bring unique advantages to the table. Keep pushing the boundaries like you've always done 💪💪

Im feeling down these past weeks and when i saw this video title from you i smiled. I wish you the best

So cool, but you need to make video about dopamine levels and how did you deal with it in details. It helped you back your passion, I think it will help many others including me. ❤

Great Video and a really good comparison that will help a lot of debates in the community! As a professional sim builder, I have put together about 30 rigs now and I just wanted to suggest one more experiment for you. You could do the same comparison you just did, but run the VR at 90 or 75 FPS. Having gone back and forth between VR & Triples and raced competitively I found the increased FPS made the biggest difference in lap time to me. Since most headsets are limited to 90FPS or less, I think most of the perceived disadvantage from VR comes from the lower refresh rate.

For me VR is so much better as you get depth of field, especially if there is so little in it time wise. It's so much cheaper to run VR than a triple screen setup, less GPU needed, less for a quest 2 or 3 for example than 3x 144hz monitors and mounting system, which takes over the room. You have to spend thousands on a triple screen setup to get to the level of immersion you get in VR. I use a Quest 3 & Next Level racing GT lite cockpit, so it packs down and I can use my setup for gaming and music production also. Obviously no where near the quality of the rig in this vid. But it is immersive and I really enjoy it for iRacing. Great Vid, thank you

I love VR but if I had your triple monitor sim rig in my home I would likely race with that instead :)

Love it! Also been loving my simagic ultimate 😉 you are why I bought it and I'm so happy. Just ordered the fx pro the other day also to fo with it! 23nm of greatness in this thing. I use it around 60-70% so it's perfect. This way I can pull the maximum out of it without clipping like I would on the 15nm alpha. I love the way they do there ffb every feeling is from the ffb itself not dead weight or inirtia. It's not built in dampening either with everything off. So it feels fluid and smooth snd allows for that nice clean movement side to side. Just feels looser even at high power which I like I'm faster with it that way. Instead of fighting dead center weight snd then losing control by pushing past the center a bit to much. I feel like I can push through the forces here and find the limit of grip. Also ive found I'm faster when not playing vr. It's to much for the mind to handle with it being so close to the eyes. The brain gets overwhelmed so the minor things we do natural stop happening which makes the smallest reductions but over a hole race it's a matter of losing or winning. I'm telling you the immersion and overwhelming feeling of vr takes away from micro adjustments no matter how confident you feel somethings you just won't notice the same. Because the senses are being over whelmed in other ways.

This is, the single most amazing sim racing video I have ever seen my brother. Absolutely brilliant ❤

If we could have mixed reality with vr depth perception plus be able to see our irl wheel and button consoles with some sort of masked pass through would be amazing! Might need to wait a few more generations tho :D Top quality content apu champion! 😏

Great vid. The best is having a great set-up in both worlds at your disposal… I truly enjoy being able to alternate on a whim. Cheers.

What a super comparison !! You know i'm a VR racer but lets be honest your monitor rig is SICK and looks awesome.... (ps no motion in VR ? should use motion compensation. )

This is the video I've been looking forward to for months 😎. Excellent video, as always 💫

The second decimal place is hundredths. Really awesome comparison, man!

I think its important to compare the typical triple monitor setup vs VR, and in my opinion VR is faster for hotlapping (i.e. no other cars on track) but triple monitor may be better in race conditions due to having more control over FOV. VR is superior for looking forward and gauging distance but triple monitor is often easier in checking mirrors.

Pretty cool comparison. Id like to see identical builds, execpt for vr vs triple. After i got my triples, i definitely had to adjust. Im still significantly faster in vr, but can eventually run down my time. The triples are much easier to work with. Also did most of my comparison on dirt rally 2.0. Little different driving style.

Ive just had a huge idea to not let your cockpit go unseen whilst in VR. You can set up a partial pass through (if your headset allows) so you can see the inside of your cockpit but outside the window would be the game! That would be ultimate immersion!

There is simply no way to compare VR with any screen setup. I’ve tried VR and cannot go back to screens, it’s is simply not as fun. I also find myself driving way better due to depth perception

I suspect the motion rig plays a part in your ability to feel what the car is up too and definitely would contribute to your lap times. But I’m sure an argument could be made for the opposite as well. I think I found your next test lol

I have only ever raced in VR (since buying it, of course) RBM, so I am a little biased. So I must admit that this didn't actually seem like a fair comparison to me. But not taking away from the fantastic video. But if you nearly always race in the motion rig - then that has to affect your body thru the brain inputs, but (arguably) doesn't affect your visual input to the brain. So a fairer comparison would have to be to have it also on in VR (unless it adds to motion sickness, which I understand too well). Again, taking nothing away from this awesome video comparison, but I don't have any racing rig and sit on a standard computer chair. So I still feel like if it's me racing on my monitor, while sitting in my computer chair checking my lap times - but then suddenly sitting on the floor when I put the VR Headset on... not a fair comparison??? But please remember RBM............ I AM VR BIASED!!!, hahaha. [;]-)

Another excellent analysis. I would love triples to have higher res visuals and less eye strain, but I use VR because of space issues. Having said that, it's amazing and I love the experience. It would be nice one day to have higher res VR.

The thing is, no one can imagine what VR does until they experience it, when I tried it for the first time, I was shocked! By the way, I am an IT certified and that wasn’t what I expected from the technology hhhhhhh

I ran a large single then switched to an old VR head set (oculus Rift cv1) and then to large triples. My main complaints with VR are things that could have been addressed with newer VR headsets as well as a PC upgrade. The older head set I was using made far away objects like braking markers difficult to make out or tell what exactly it is due to the low resolution and screen door effect. The other complaint was the lack of peripheral vision, this is one thing that I didn't realize made a big difference in my sense of speed and awareness of other cars on track and when drifting in tandem seeing the chase car sliding up onto my door out of my peripheral is something I didn't know I was missing. Another issue with VR was I wear glasses so I would constantly have to adjust things and clean my lenses both my glasses and the vr so I didn't have smudges and scratches. Unfortunately the cost of prescription lenses for VR are extremely expensive. Lastly was the Frame rate I would experience. In VR I needed to crank my settings extremely low to obtain a smooth experience and that was at 45fps, with my current triple 1080p displays I run significantly higher settings at a locked 60fps as they are 60hz displays.

"What a beautiful time for sim racing" My thoughts exactly.

Mr. Consistency - nice job!!!

I tried VR a few years ago with a Rift and hated it. Made me feel sick constantly so went back to triples but I could never get the feel I wanted looking through the corner etc. I recently tried VR again with a Quest 2 and it's a different world, don't get sick even after a couple of hours and it's so much better being able to move my head and see what I would see in my real race car. Only downside is not being able to see buttons etc but as I only use my sim for real world practise that's not really an issue for me.

Do you plan on upgrading to the Big Screen Beyond?

It's a matter of perspectives, if your eyes / brain get use to depth perception on triples then it becomes 2nd nature and you will be fast, in VR, you are totally immersed, if you look down, you see the car's floor and so on, personally, I find it so much easier to judge breaking points, where to get back on the gas in VR, more aware maybe? When I had triples, I was nowhere as quick as I am in VR just due to my eyes having trouble with Depth perception thus being difficult to judge just how far away I really was from a corner. This is so much better for myself in VR. And yes, VR is maturing, even the Valve Index is considered old and a SDE nightmare by today's standards, a Reverb G2 will have a much better image and quality and things like the Pimax Crystal is even better (not tried this). only problem, High end VR requires a beefy PC to run properly.

Love your videos, but im a little gutted it wasn't just a straight vr to triples comparison, the difference in setups might not be a difference, but it also might.

I think this is more a testatement to your consistency than anything else - pedals haptic and wheel do its magic. My point is - when I got triples I feel like I lose some awareness. In VR, in racing condition, I feel I am safer driver. Plus on tracks with elevation, it helps a lot. Try the same you did on say Laguna Seca, or Algrave.:)) Just say Algrave. Depth information during elevantion helps pick up much more opportune traction points.

You have an amazing looking rig, but why didn’t you do the VR on the motion system? Seems like the ease of car placement in VR you mentioned combined with the motion feedback you mentioned could be a better combination.

I love your channel and always enjoy the content you put out! Keep it up! However, coming from someone who also has a motion rig, I'd argue that motion gives you more of an advantage in this test, regardless of which optics. Therefore, I'd be curious to see what the results would be in both cases with motion. Im purely a vr racer now due to the immersion, but if i had to give up one or the other, it would totally be vr. Motion is too crucial!

Master totally agreed, we did the same test, Alessandro Ottaviani and I, one of the best pilots in the world same result experience in VR absolute immersion only problem is the complexity and difficulty of competing with VR because too many factors can ruin the race e.g. recentralization of the VR, buttons pressed by mistake or wrong otherwise you could do the same times

I'm just a bit curious. Why not try running VR in the motion rig? Surely that's ultimate immersion

Realy nice comparison 👍

Nice test!!! I Play most of the time AC on PC on Flat… but I have Psvr2 for Gt7 and wow what and experience I got the immersion is on another whole planet. In my case I’m faster and more consistent with VR.

Just watched it again, I’d love to see comparison where you have motion enabled on both

I hope that game devs one day will use passtrough tech in the game. Green screen in the virtual wheel ,shifter ,handbrake, feet zone in the game. so that it is replaced with my real life things in that zone. Imagine you see your real hands around your real gears in VR. That would be awesome.

VR with motion is the bomb.

Gotta try the Somnium VR1 when it releases pretty soon

With the pimax crystal and a motion sim, it’s hard to go back.

Best video answers the question. The difference is small so get whatever you prefer.

The price of immersion seems to be at a bargain with the VR setup. If you factor in the wheel and pedals used in the test IMO

I'm getting the same bucket seat as you hopefully it's comfortable.

Again another class bit of Racing, Plus you is always inspirational, And honest... I bought a TP-Link AX3000 AX55 Archer Router, And DAMN, AMS 2 have woken up for me in VR, Zero latency between the wheel in my hands and the wheel on AMS 2 while I am Online in multiplayer, I was getting stuttering from the Sky Modem, As Sky has got crap modems I can't lie, But since I connected the TP-Link AX3000 router to the Sky Modem, Sorted the settings out, And what it have done for Virtual Desktop and Steam is something else, I cannot express enough how bad ass the TP-Link AX3000 Router is, I can only imagine what a higher model will do, lol, TP-Link is even bringing out a Wi-Fi-7 out soon, But the Wi-Fi-6 that the TP-Link AX3000 Router is Wi-Fi-6, Is staggering what it has done for my VR Sim Racing, I think I might even do a video about the TP-Link AX3000 Router coz I can imagine a few people is having stuttering issues while online Sim Racing, What a TP-Link AX3000 Router does for your internet is mind blowing bad ass AMS 2 looks and feels with no latency or hardly any at all, I highly recommend the TP-Link AX3000 A55 Archer Router if you want great VR gaming on Steam...... Either way VR or triples you still got some driving skills.... happy Sim Racing, Peace Bruva...........

I wonder if they will ever make a helmet style VR headset, so the weight of the headset doesn't rest on your cheeks/forehead(plus it would help with immersion)

Negligible difference to someone who already knows the track by heart - you could probably race almost as fast by night or even blindfold 😂 tho I can't go back to racing flat - 3 monitors displaying 3 flat images is no replacement for full immersion, 3D depth, natural scale and sheer presence you feel there in VR...

very nice video my friend, i think the diff lap time its not for type of screen is just the driving. great pace any way !

What is the VR headset you are using? Which one would you recommend? Cheers

I have both and like them both for different reasons.

In the end, you have to relearn how to drive with flat screens because you lack depth perception. You can drive fast with both setups, but VR comes far closer to reality than any 2D setup because we can see 3D. Monitors are only ever a stopgap solution as far as real vision is concerned. In contrast, you see practically the same thing in VR as when you are actually driving a car. You intuitively turn your head, look into bends, estimate the apex more correctly, everything is muscle memory. The presence and closeness to reality is simply unbeatable in VR, which ultimately makes driving easier and more intuitive.

this is actually very hard to compare as each monitor and vr headset has different response times/display technology for example index 144hz lcd is quite different from bigscreen beyond 90hz m-oled hz matters but not as much as you might think

what vr headset is good? can i even run vr with a 4070ti?

Have you ever tried VR with the qs210?. How is motion compensation working for you?

Vr is the best thing to happen to sim racing. Some may not agree but sim racing wouldn't be where it is now without vr. Maybe im talking too much from experience. I've raced my entire gaming life, i never became a sim racer until VR. I never bought a wheel until then. Drive club psvr1 changed that. Game was bad, i felt like i was on the track. Ive been on the track with motorbikes. Im 80% on vr on 65 inch tv. I still use a pad on tv. I thought coffee racer would change that but to uk its £800, more than my rig. So i bailed. Idea so cool, coffee table that turns in low powered rig. Think about 10-12nm max. Lower torque. If tax,import and postage didnt rape it. Be about £550. Get them to sponsor you, get us 15% off lol.

Hey man! You are building your rig just as i would love to when the time comes, i would love to know that can VR beat the immersion of the triple monitor as you set it up so it feels like you are in the car you see your hands like what they really do instead of sticking to the wheel. So my question is when you are in your rig with motion and etc fully immersed between the nets monitors or VR is the way for feeling closest to the real thing? Keep up the good work!

Without watching video: screens. Less lag.

I dont really care what‘s faster. For me, the difference is the immersion. VR is just on a whole other level than Flatscreen!

Hi mate hope you are well? Another great vid. I always admire your passion for sim racing and it’s a credit to you. I tried VR a couple of years ago with a G2 but was fed up with performance issues with ACC which was what I predominantly played. Have you experience this with any games? I therefore stuck with my triple 32 inch screens which I love but VR is always in the back of mind because of the immersion. In relation to triples and 32 inch screens, I’ve recently watched again your vid on screen and wheel set up because I’m not all together happy with the height and angle of my wheel, plus the height from the floor to the bottom of the tv’s. I feel like my wheel and tvs are slightly too low and that the angle of my drive wheel is too horizontal instead of being tilted up slightly. I know this post isn’t related to these issues, but I would greatly appreciate if you could tell me the height of your tvs from the floor please? Plus any comments you could make in relation to the wheel angle? Thanks in advance and keep up the good work

i cant speak for tripples but im definitely faster in vr compared to single screen

You need to try the pimax crystal. You will be blown away

I don't understand why you would do the test in different rigs. Now you don't know whether it was VR/triples or the rig/motion that caused the difference in time.

Nice video, notice that you have motion turned off for VR.

Why did you make this test in such unfair manner? If you call it triple screen vs VR then it should be absolute equal in the setup. And you had motion rig on triples and haptic motors on VR. Looks like you tried to make results skewed towards your triples rig on which you spent lots of time and money. Just sit into your rig with triples and motion platform and put on VR. Make that proper comparison please

Great stuff!! 🔥🔥for a motion rig, is it better to have triples standing or mounted on the rig?? 🤙

Do a test on a circuit you never raced on. I think gear doesn't matter once you've reach peak performance on a track, but vr will help you to get here faster.

This is not an indicator of where you spend more time. There you will go faster!

Bro you won t beleive me. today I decided to try to run iracing on my tv 65 inch with the proper FOV. After 8 years using exclusivly VR, i wonder why i have lost my time with VR instead of building a tripple screen set up. I was 0.3 sec faster with the screen and more precise and consistent and you know where i am.. 0.3 is a LOT. Today is the day i can say no more Vr ever. only for fun but for competition never

What game is this

Entertaining video but for a test you changed to many variables! You really should change the one variable you would test (if it's technically possible).

The guy is used to flat so gonna be faster

vr is faster for sure

What kind of "VR enthusiast" uses a last gen headset. The index is not nearly up to par with recently released high Res pancake lenses. Pointless.

Great video. It's interesting to see how close it is. Though, even if it wasn't close, you'd never get me out of my VR. I can't go back from the feeling of really being in the car. I'm also lucky that I don't have any of the negatives that affect some people. I did 6.5 hours solo at 1967 Targa last week and was fresh as a daisy at the end.🥽

Uff I'm so happy with your results. Apart from time, honestly, for you youtube viewers, your triple rig is such an eye candy. It is insane how close it looks to the real thing, and even more in the porsche with exactly the same wheels and perfect fov, pure gold 👌

I think you can be fast on both, but the problem with going "pro" with VR is that it's a lot more sweaty to race for hours every day. It's just so much easier on your eyes with screens, and also overlays can be a pain in the ass with VR. After all, I race only with VR, but if I wanted to take this hobby really seriously, I would pick triples. Immersion is what makes sim racing fun for me, and VR is by far the biggest factor in that immersion. I can easily compete in 3.5k iRating races, and I don't believe my progress will be hindered by VR for a long time to come.

Im glad many RU-vidrs are talking about VR at the moment. Your test showed that for experienced driver there is a little difference. But from my own experience as a beginner its night and day difference as I for life of me can not judge my breaking points due to lack of depth perception from a flat screen.

I'm sensing the Pimax Crystal Light in your future 😉

I saw that coming actually!😁🙌

I'm faster and more consistent on triples compared to the crystal. I love Vr still, but also on the motion rig the Vr motion compensation software isn't there yet

I'm thinking about getting triples. I currently use an ultra wide for non VR games and Quest 3 for VR. Although my lap times are very similar on VR compared to ultra wide I feel so much more confident in VR. I don't have any motion feedback other than my wheel but I think it's so much easier to feel the car slipping in VR and being able to drive on the limit. Being able to look in to the apex was a game changer for me and made me much more consistent in my entry and exit.

I started in vr with the rift. Never thot i would ever bother with a flat screen. Bought upgrade vive pro 2. And that was the end of my vr xp. The new headsets are shite. Sorry for language. But they are. All worse than rift Sure looking straight ahead and its gorgeous. But this crap nonsense with the peripheral being crap its nonsense to me. I move my eyes not my head. 2nd or 3rd gen vr im just not wasting the stupid money to find out that its just not practical to have a vr rig locked to your head with a tiny sweet spot.. Im glad your loving it . But the vr makers suck big time. Vr should have taken over. Now its being left in the shelf. Cause the money men got involved. When there selling a pc in the vr headset i will return. For now tho im stcking to trips far superior in every way other than the wrap around feeling falls way short of feeling like your in the game. Atleeast i can wipe the sweat from my face without smashing my hand on a vr headset. Plus your stream will look shit for the community. Sorry for the negative but vids like this do not show you the truths of vr. Thres always compromise from settings to getting it sat on your head in the right position that you will have to reset every time you lift it to your forehead just to find your mouse.these vr a headsets are just demanding more from pc's. None are actually optimised and all need tweaking to your pc. And it 3rd gen we are on.. theve gone the wrong direction. And vr users are paying for it. Such a shame cause vr would b dead again if it were not for sim racing. But that aint enough cash return for these money men. Hence why there are way more vr games now. But because there money men there all rushed and are about as fascinating candycrush. Vr = skuba diving with water filled goggles. We never see those vids

A great result despite what I'm about to write. I'd say to be sure your results are as accurate as possible for you then it needs to be performed on the same rig with the only difference being the display. The reality is the result is driver dependant. I'm more consistent in VR and I have better awareness but in my case I am more likely to take risks in VR because of my increased awareness so more incidents. I know others who are faster on monitors.

Upgrade to a quest 3. It’s totally worth it and way better than the vive. I was a huge triple screen guy until quest 3. The clarity is unmatched.

I really think, now that I am in VR after a few years with a monitor, that it is harder, because you don't see your gear. With a manual H shifter i can't recall how much i've had misshifts and F*d up my race because of going from second to first instead of third. When you actually see your gear with peripheral vision I suspect the brain process the visual information more accurately and you are more accurate with your shifting movements. For paddles, no issue though. I yet have to try a proper triple screen but I don't have the budget and the room needed for that. That's all I can tell

I've done similar tests on the oval side to test for tire wear etc and reached the same conclusion. I feel more confident in VR and am more consistent but overall it's even for speed. If I'm racing for fun or if I have a live spotter I will race in VR but I feel like I lose out on so much information from overlays with pit cycles, laptimes, tire stints, etc that I'm at a competitive disadvantage in VR. Hopefully the next iteration of VR looks so good I just can't pass it up.

Je te suit depuis des années, et franchement tes vidéos sont constructifs et enrichissant. Tu viens de démontrer que la VR n'apporte pas plus sur un chrono mais en termes d'immersion oui. Mais le gros défaut que je trouve avec la VR, c'est la transpiration et son poids sur des longue sessions. En triple screen, tu peux avoir une serviette a côté de toi pendant que tu roules, alors que la VR, c'est très compliqué. Je suis en triple screen 32 comme toi, et c'est ce que je préfères, et j'ai aussi un pimax 8kx qui dors dans une boite. Bravo pour cette vidéo 🤩😉

That was very interesting. I really want to see that compared to VR with the motion rig!!! Even if it's not the fastest, I'll bet the emersion is crazy! 💪

I know VR won't be faster in ACC 😅

I love your videos!! And another great comparison, thank you. 😊 I don't have space for triples and so went for VR fr9m the start. Running the Varjo Aero for 2 years now and it's epic. 3 weeks ago, installed d-box gen 5 and it's on a whole other level!! Please can you do a video of you in VR and motion? Would love to hear your thoughts on that combination. Again, thank you for sharing your passion

If immersion is the goal, motion and proper VR motion compensation wins. Cost too. You can get the best of VR for less than triple 144Hz monitors of correct size with DP VRR.

Started with VR (Quest 2) and brought it back to the shop for a refund, which I used for a 300 EUR (same price) 24 inch Ultrawide from AOC. I prefer the Ultrawide. (Upgrading to tripples will one day come) Why I like it over VR is just the ease of use. Hop in the rig and load the game and race. With VR it was too much hassle for my personal taste. Also my setup is in the livingroom atm and being completely locked out from my environment was sometimes anoying when my GF or the 10 y old is walking around. I'd like to see whats happening around me IRL. Also I'm a hot boi and with VR I couldnt race more than an hours, maybe 2 before my head was drenched in sweat, which is not fun and also ruins the experience. Yes immersion, sense of speed and all that was way better in VR, I opted for the ease of use of an ultrawide. I might try headtracking in the future though. Looks like that is going to be the 'best of both worlds'.

It would be great if you could do such a test using the same cockpit with a motion platform (with motion compensation for VR) using a current generation headset. The Valve Index was great 5 years ago, but today the quality of image in VR is completely different and it's not just about increasing resolution, it's also about optics that provide sharpness even at the edges, lack of god rays, lack of screen door effect etc.

What nobody considers and that is very interesting with Vr headsets. The motion to photon latency. Your Valve Index is not even very good. There were measurements once and even the CV1 was a lot better. It also had OLED. From a performance point of view, I would now recommend the Bigscreen, which I also own. I notice the lower latency thanks to the OLED display. I previously owned a lot of headsets. The jump to the Bigscreen came from the Quest pro and you immediately notice that you can drive more precisely. The car simply feels more direct. And at the end of the day it also adds lap time. I would guess that the latency is 20-30 ms better. At 180 km/h that's already 1-1.5m.

What type of fps are you getting in vr I enjoy it alot but I'm on an oculus 2 with an I5 processor and a Nvidia 1660 ti and only getting 60 steady fps on a good day. I feel I would get more hours in if I was getting 90fps and suggestions would be great even budget upgrade info would be nice. GREAT VIDEO as usually thanks for keeping the sim needs entertained

Uuuu im afraid you will say VR is faster because of the reference points and apex visibility. Let's see😁

Well it is basically what you are used to. Either way won't make you faster, but with VR the immersion is so much better than looking at flat screens. I mainly do VR gaming 98 percent of the time. Also I don't have the space to do Triple screens even if I wanted to.